Leland hixson



(No Model.) f

L. HlXgoN.

HATEHWAY GATE FOR ELEVATORS. No. 2993173. v, Patented May27, 1884. I

UNITED STATES PATENT Urrrcn- LELAND HIXSON, OF WASHINGTON, n. 0.,ASSIGNOR on Two-'Tnmns To ROBERT A. TUCKER AND HENRY L. STRANG, BOTH orSAME PLACE.

HATCHWAY-GATE FO R ELEVATORS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 299,473, dated May 27,1884. I I Application filed December 4, 1883. (B O model.) I

1'0 all whom it may concern Be it known that I,'LELAND HIxsoN, a citizenof the United States, residing at IV-ashington, in the District ofColumbia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inHatchway-Gates for Elevators; and I do declare the following to be afull, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the'art to whiclrit appertains to make and use thesame, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to theletters and figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part ofthis specification.

This invention pertains to improvements in hatohway-gates forelevators,having for its object, chiefly, to prevent the accidentalfalling of persons through the hatchway-opening, as would likely ormight occur when said opening is uncovered by the platform as itispassing from one floor to another,or when lowered to the lowermost orground floor; and,further, to provide for the opening of the gate by thedirect action of the elevator-platform, and to cause the automaticclosing or lowering of the gate as the platform passes from one upperfloor to another.

The invention consists of the combination and construction of partssubstantially as hereinafter fully set forth and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of myimproved hatchway-gate for elevators. Fig. 2 isa front view thereof withparts broken away. Fig. 3 is a detail view of the same.

In the organization of my invention I provide the ordinary platform, A,with two uprights, B, one arranged and fastened at its lower end to eachside of the platform, it may be at about its middle, said uprightshaving forwardly-projecting arms a a, secured to their upper ends, whicharms are connected by a bar, a, at their outer ends, and additionallyconnected to the uprights by the oblique braces of. The uprights are tobe only of sufficient height to elevate the arms at out of the way of aperson standing on the platform of the elevator.

b is one of two spring-bolts inserted into sockets in the outer ends ofthe arms a, and cushioned upon springs, also arranged within saidsockets, to hold said bolts in a projected position when not acted upon.The lower outer edges of said bolts are beveled to permit them toreadily be acted on and sufficiently retracted during the descent of theplatform,to allow k the easy unobstructed passage of the arms a astheypass downward freed of the gate, presently to be described.

G is the gate, of ordinary picket form, and adapted to have averticallyslidin g movement, as hereinafter described.

D D are upright pieces, arranged and secured in position at the frontedge of the hatchwayopening, and about in a plane extending parallelwith the side edges of said opening, said upright pieces having groovesD D in their inner sides,which receive the side edges of the gate 0, soarranged as to slide therein. These grooves are extended a shortdistance downward into the floor, as at d d, on each side ofa forwardextension, d, of the hatchway-opening, and inwardly from saidgrooveextensions d, projections d forming lateral or inward extensionsof the inner sides of the upright pieces D, are located. These grooves Dare perpendicular from the lower ends of their extensions d upward adistance about equal to the height of the gate, as at @ll to permit the1 v latter to occupy, when closed, a vertical position, and are diagonalor oblique, as at D, the balance of their lengths, their obliquitiesextending outward away from the plane of movement of theelevator-platform, to enable the gate to take that direction in itsupward movement, as will be presently explained.

In the extreme upper ends of the grooves D, out of the way of the gate,are apertures e,extending through the side pieces, D, within whichapertures are hung pulleys e in any known way, and over these latterpass cords f, secured at one end to the upper end of the gate, andhaving weights 9 attached to their other ends, the purpose of which isto counterbalance the weight of the gate when in its lowered position,whereby said gate will be prevented from being forcibly precipitatedinto such position as it escapes from the springbolts b of the armsa,which is permitted when the elevator-platform uncovers thehatchwayopening,as will be more fully understoodhereinafter.

In operation, as the platform rises from the Lil lowermost or groundlloor, it being assumed that the gate is in position to prevent accessto the hatchway-openin g of the first upper floor,) the spring-bolts bat the upper ends of the uprights B of the elevator-platform will, upontheir reaching the required elevation, pass through the hatehway-openingextension (1 and into contact with the lower crossbar of the gate,thereby opening and carrying the gate upward into the inclined portionsof the grooves D, which movement of the platform is continued until thesaid platform arrives within the hatehway-opening of the first up perfloor-,or the hatchway-opening of the floor desired to be reached. \Vhenthe first floor has been passed by the platform, the gate will have beenelevated to such a point as to allow, by its plane of deflection fromthe plane or direction of the travel of the platform, the escape of thespringbolts b of the latter from said gate, when the latter will descendgradually its grooves and return to its original lowcred position, againpreventing access without its being elevated to the hatchway-opening.The ascending platforimwith the spring bolts, will similarly affect eachgate of the floors to whiehit maybe required to elevate it.

It will have been noticed that when the platform does not pass the firstupper floor the gate is retained in its elevated position upon thespringbolts. It will be further seen that the projections (2 with thedownward extensions d of theinner sides of the upright pieces, thelatter being cut away flush with the bottoms or inner surfaces of thegrooves D be low, and partly forming said extensi0ns,)will effect theholding of the gate in place when lowered as against movement toward thehatehway opening, should it happen to be pressed against by any onestanding near by, and thereby prevent accidental precipitation throughsaid opening. The spaces caused by the cutaway portions of the innersides of the upright pieces permit of the slight inward deflection ofthe lower end of the gate as its upper end is deflected outward inascending the inclined port-ions of the grooves 1).

It is obvious that the springbolts maybe replaced by hinges with oneleaf somewhat extended, and adapted to fold upward upon the descent ofthe platform.

It is remarked that where the invention is applied to elevators used inonly two-story buildings, or where only one upper floor is to bereached, the grooves are made perfectly perpendicular throughout theirlengths, and the spring-bolts may be omitted, since itis not necessaryto free the platform-arms from the gate and cause its descent to closethe gateway leading to the floor or hatehway-opening before and notuntil the descent of the platform to the floor below.

Having thus fully described my invention, I claim and desire to secureby Letters Patent 1. The combination, with the platform-uprights havinghorizontal or outwardly-proi ecting arms, of the gate arranged to closethe entrance to the hatchway-opening from the floorhaving saidopening,and adapted to have perpendicular movement through the action ofthe ar1ns,and be retained in its elevated 01' open position thereby,said gate being lowered to its closed position upon the descent of theplatform, substantially as set forth.

2. The combinatiomwith the elevator-platform having the armed uprightsprovided with spring-bolts, of the gate arranged to move in aperpendicular and in an oblique plane upwardly and downwardly throughthe action of the arms of the platform-uprights, substantially as andfor the purpose set forth.

3. The combination, with the elevator-platform uprights having armsprovided with spring-bolts, of the gate sliding in grooves perpendiculara portion of their lengths, and extending obliquely the remainder oftheir lengths, said gate being elevated through the direct action of thebolts and retained in an eley'ated position at a certain height, butallowed to return or descend after passing said height, substantially asand for the purpose specified.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

LELAND .lllXSON.

\Vitnesses:

TARNER ll. \Vniun'r, .linncs C. 'lnnvns.

